I've never been a fan of plastic grocery bags.

There are the obvious environmental reasons -- I will never forget an environmentalist telling me that the plastic bags are the new fruit of Delaware, replacing the once-lush peach orchards. look, see how they sit on the tree branches?

But there is also the fact that you can hardly put anything in them.

Lots of dog-owners like them for picking up after their dogs, but we're a pet-free household. And with a toddler around, I am paraniod that she's going to get into the bags somehow, though her school does use them to send home dirty clothes and the like.

It seems hard to avoid them entirely, but over the last few months, we have really cut down on the number of plastic bags in the house. If I am going to a store like CVS and only need a few things, I just put them in my very large purse/diaper bag/ life sack. And a few months ago, I bought the reusable bags at Trader Joe's for groceries and just keep them in my trunk -- if for some reason I forget them, TJ's has paper, which I promptly recycle.

The problem I run into is when I do a fairly large shopping trip at Target or a similar place. I bring the Trader Joe's bags along, with good intentions, but the clerk automatically begins bagging in plastic bags and you have to interrupt them and tell them you brought your own bags. I find it kind of awkward. The reusable bags don't fit neatly into the bagging area and it seems to take extra time, which seems to irk the people behind me.

I suppose I could show them my reusable bags before they begin the process, but sometimes they're hard to get to before they start, especially if I get a bit distracted at the check-out (more prone to happen if I am not shopping alone.)

Anyway, in this age of cities like Annapolis talking about bag bans, you'd think the clerks at the big stores would be more aware.

I'm wondering if anyone else has a better solution?